EPA flags microplastics as “priority” contaminants in drinking water
Federal regulators are moving to add microplastics to a list of drinking water contaminants marked for research, funding and possible regulation in the future.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced April 2 a set of coordinated actions to protect public health from harms associated with microplastics, which have been found to accumulate in human tissues as they build up in the environment.
“This is a direct response to the concern of millions of Americans who have long demanded answers about what they and their families are drinking every day,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a press conference. “For too long, Americans have been ignored as they sound the alarm about plastics in their drinking water. That ends today.”
The draft proposal for the EPA’s latest Contaminant Candidate List under the Safe Drinking Water Act is open for public comment for 60 days, and the agency is expected to finalize the list November 17.
In the joint announcement, the HHS unveiled a $144 million program to measure microplastics levels in humans, identify the most harmful plastic contaminants and develop ways to remove them from the body.
“Today we mark a turning point … to confront microplastics as a human health threat,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the event. “And we are doing it with urgency and discipline.”
Plastic has become “embedded in modern life, it’s also become embedded in the human body,” Kennedy said. “Researchers have detected microplastics in human blood, lung tissue, liver, kidneys and human placentas. Studies have found them in more than 80% of people tested.”
Some advocates from human and environmental health applauded the effort to put microplastics under greater federal scrutiny.
The move marks an “important first step” to regulate the harmful contaminants in drinking water, Judith Enck, president of the nonprofit Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional administrator, said in a statement. Enck said the agency should “move rapidly to not only regulate microplastics in drinking water but to also prevent microplastics from entering our water supplies.”
Others said adding microplastics to a list with no regulatory teeth falls short of urgent action needed to protect the public.
“We appreciate the investment in more research about how microplastics affect our bodies and our health, but we already know enough to act,” Jen Fela, managing director of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, said in a statement. “We need strong regulatory solutions and innovation to reduce and eliminate these plastics now.”
“We need strong regulatory solutions and innovation to reduce and eliminate these plastics now.” — Jen Fela, Plastic Pollution Coalition
Microplastics are bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters long that form when bigger plastic chunks break apart. Humans swallow these and even tinier plastic pieces – nanoplastics – in food and drinking water and inhale them from the air and household dust. Research suggests up to 83% of tap water worldwide is contaminated with microplastics, and the levels in bottled water can be much higher.
Plastic particles have been found in many human organs, including the brain, testicles, lungs and kidneys, as well as human blood, bone marrow and breast milk, and growing research links them to inflammation, tissue damage, and an array of other health problems.
A new study published last week in eClinicalMedicine, a journal published by The Lancet, found that two types of phthalates – chemicals commonly used to make plastics – were each attributed to almost two million preterm births and tens of thousands of infant deaths globally in 2018.
A previous study linked di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), one of the same phthalates in the eClinicalMedicine study, to more than 356,000 annual deaths from heart disease worldwide.
A report released last August called plastics a “grave” danger to humans and the planet, estimating exposure to plastics leads to an annual $1.5 trillion in health-related costs. Another report, published in December, concluded that global plastic pollution will more than double by 2040 unless policies change.
In addition to microplastics, the EPA is also proposing adding pharmaceuticals to its Contaminant Candidate List, along with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), disinfection byproducts and 75 other chemicals and nine microbes considered emerging threats to public drinking water.
The move comes even as the EPA works to roll back drinking water regulations for four PFAS chemicals and delay implementation for regulations on two others.
Featured image: Curated Lifestyle/Unsplash+
